Gabriel DropOut

Overview

Gabriel DropOut is a character driven comedy about four girls in high school. However, these aren’t regular girls. Two of them are angels and two of them are demons; although their roles are often swapped.

The plot for this anime is that around high school age, angels and demons are sent from heaven and hell respectively to live on Earth so they can learn about humans. Afterwards they return back to their homes and carry on with their angelic or demonic business using the information they gathered while on Earth.

Like all character driven anime, the characters need to mesh well and this is something Gabriel DropOut succeeds in. The breakdown of the character roles in the show aren’t just noticed by the viewer, but are even commented on by the characters themselves. This recognition of who they really are compared to who they’re supposed to be is then used to make the group even more tight-knit.

Characters

Gabriel is the protagonist of the series. She is supposed to be from one of the most prominent families in heaven, but she became a slacker once she was sent to Earth. Instead of doing her school work she just stays home and plays online games. Apparently this is how one becomes a fallen angel.

The second angel is Raphiel. While Gabriel is more of a fallen angel than a true one, Raphiel is more of a demon than an angel. She constantly torments Satanichia and finds amusement in the misfortune of others.

Vignette is one of the two demons, although she is essentially the opposite of Raphiel because she acts like an angel. She always follows the rules and just wants everyone to get along. She is also the opposite of Gabriel in that she works hard and tries to get Gabriel to do her homework and go to school.

Finally, Satanichia is the character who acts most like she’s supposed to. She comes from a prominent demon family and always tries to show how evil she is by coming up with crazy pranks which backfire. Satanichia is a failed demon, but in her mind she’s always the winner and that’s what counts.

Satanichia

Conclusion

While the genre of four-girl character driven comedy is nothing new, Gabriel DropOut adds a new layer to it by giving each of the characters obvious roles which none of them live up to. In the end I gave this anime a 7/10 mostly because Satanichia amused me.

Gabriel DropOut does everything it’s supposed to do. Each episode brings new forms of entertainment and all of the main characters are significantly different from each other, but work well together to create crazy developments.

That said, I think it’s difficult for this genre to really get much higher than a 7 because there’s generally no room for any big twist which could change how I view the entire anime. The best I’ve seen of this kind of anime so far is Yuru Yuri and even that was barely ranked above this one.

Still, this genre is great for taking a break from some of the more story driven anime I tend to watch and Gabriel DropOut is definitely one I would recommend.